Swan's Treasure
by captainswantotheend
Summary: AU (no curse): Emma's father, the King, is killed by pirates and she grows up as peasant with her little sister. Ten years later she is captured by the infamous Captain Hook because he believes she can help him find his treasure. Will they end up finding something much more valuable? Rating may go up.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Just a small update, thought I'd throw some Neal/Baelfire drama into it. The response to this has been a lot more than I've expected so far. Thanks for wanting to keep up with the story. It's actually my first fic I've been brave enough to publish and your response means a lot to me and actually has inspired me to already get the next chapter done. Think I'll leave you hanging just a little bit longer though, wouldn't want it to be over too soon ;) **

**Disclaimer: God my life would be easy if I owned them :P**

"Thank you," I breathed excitedly as the guards let me through to the palace. My palace. My heart gave a little jump as I stepped onto the marble floor and looked at the sun beaming through the windows, causing the walls to shine in brilliant colours. As I bowed before His throne my breath caught in my lungs. I could be sitting on this throne. It was rightfully mine. But I chose against that decision many years ago because I had been cowardly and weak and now I knew I had to pay the price for my selfishness.

I looked out the window once more, remembering a warm summer's day when I had been playing with Juliette in this room and ripped apart the blue velvet curtains. I remembered father throwing a raging fit, hissing at my little sister and me. I begged him not to punish Juliette, it hadn't been her fault. I had gone a little over the top in our game of "catch". Juliette got away free, while I was punished with the burden of washing my dresses myself for the entire next week. My hands were covered with red, burning blisters after a few days; cleaning those gowns was no easy job. Being a princess was no easy job. I knew this because I had seen my father hunched over paperwork so many nights, caught him tortured by impossible choices and found him weakened by his power. My heart hurt for him and for the fact that I would once go through the same pain.

And so, when these wretched pirates came and attacked our kingdom and _killed _my beloved father, I ran into the woods with Juliette and hid out there for a few days, waiting for the panic and the sorrow to die down, afraid to face my citizens and having to lead them in this dark time. Everything was burnt down, our food, our valuables were stolen and the castle had been plundered in every corner. It was no longer the beautiful, majestic masterpiece of architecture it had once been, but a black fort that stood looming over our city and the darkened beach. Mothers were still kneeling on the black sand, wailing for the sons and daughters that had been cruelly taken or ruefully killed. When Juliette and I returned from the Enchanted Forest and wandered through the houses that had once been the pride of all the land we were so dirty that no one recognised us. We were scolded and scowled at and told to make ourselves useful or run away. I was sixteen then, my poor, innocent little sister only 6. I could have told them who I really was. I should have told them who I really was. I was the princess. I was the queen, now that my father was gone. But I was scared. Scared of the responsibility and the power and the choices I would have to make, the decisions I would be burdened with. So I decided to let them believe the princesses had been taken together with their father.

We voted on a new king, who had turned out to be a cruel and evil man. I had let my kingdom down and now I had to bear the consequences. The curtains that surrounded me were no longer the beautiful royal blue, but black as ebony. Black as the King's soul. Long live the evil King.

I had found a place to live for Juliette and myself. We worked with a grumpy old man, the only one willing to take two orphaned peasants into his household, on the condition that I learned to work. So I did. I studied architecture with him. I learned how to build and sail ships. I learned every detail about them, from the sails to the canons to the cabins to the rear. I started by building my own boats. I started going on excursions with the King's men to guard our seas. They hated having a woman on board, but they needed my knowledge. I was a fast learner. I was clever. Now I worked as architect and designed boats and ships for anyone who needed them. The design I held in my hand right now was meant for the King. It was special. It was my masterpiece. My best work until today. If it were built correctly, it would be the fastest, the strongest and the most beautiful ship in the seven seas. The dreaded pirates would for once dread us and they would never touch anyone in my kingdom again, as long as the King had this ship. With great pride I presented to him my work. He was as impressed as I knew he would be, but the price he paid me was unexpected.

"Robert! Juliette! Robert, look at this! Robert, come quick!" I called to my master. He stumbled drunkenly down the stairs to the table at which I was standing.

"Why do you call me? What could possibly be so urgent?"

"Just look!" I said and his eyes widened impossibly as I emptied the content of the little purse onto the table. "It's the money for the ship."

"So he bought it."

"And how he bought it! Robert, you can pay off your debts. We could move into a bigger house. Robert, this money is more than we've ever earned from all my other projects combined!"

Robert was _not _one for hugging. In fact, he was grumpy, moody and very old and he always thought he was better than anyone else. But he had so many gambling bets that got him into more than a few troubles and fights. Seeing this money on the table in front of him, being able to touch it, seeing all his problems solved in one day…that could make even the King happy for a moment. He hobbled over to me and grabbed me into a tight, drunk hug, slurring a thank you on the way.

"You're very welcome," I smiled.

"What's going on here?" another manly voice said from the stairs.

"Neal!" I exclaimed in happiness. "Neal, look what the King gave us for his ship!" I ran to him, showing him the pile of golden coins on the table.

"Wow," he breathed in astonishment. "Perhaps his soul isn't as dark as it always seems. This is incredible!"

"I know! Isn't it amazing?" I laughed, jumping into his arms. Neal was Robert's assistant, he had been living with us for a couple of years now. And well, what can I say? We were both grown ups. We both had certain needs, certain desires, certain…feelings. Up until two months ago neither of us had been brave enough to make a first move, but when he kissed me underneath the moonlight on the beach, well, something just sparked. He was a good man…and a great one, too! I blushed at the thought, staring happily into his piercing green eyes.

* * *

That night I dreamed of my parents. Oh, how I missed my father. He had been a good King. He was kind and pure to the soul. When I asked him where he got all his strength and goodness from, he always replied rather bitterly that he had it all from my mother. But he would never tell me what happened to her.

"Snow White was the most beautiful woman I had ever met. Her skin was white as snow, her hair black as ebony and her lips red as blood. And she had the lightest heart of them all. She was truthful and brave and kind spirited. She was the best Queen this land had ever had," Papa said in my dream.

"But where did she go?" Juliette would ask, sitting on his lap after listening to his nightly bedtime stories.

"It's time for you to go to bed."

"But papa-"I objected from my seat on the soft carpet.

"No buts. Good night, my darlings. May you be as truthful and brave and kind as your mother ever was." And he turned out the light and closed the door.

But something was wrong. He returned only minutes later and opened the door again, however he didn't turn on the light.

"Papa?" I asked. "Papa, what's wrong?"

"Oh, I'm not your Papa, dearie." His voice was all wrong, rough and deep and gravelly and very, very scary.

In the faint moonlight I could make out the silhouette of the evil King as he grabbed me by the throat and put a blindfold over my eyes. I started screaming for help, but something hard banged against my head and I was knocked out cold.

It was a nightmare. It had to be. But however hard I tried to wake up, tried to move, tried to get back into my little bed of hay I shared with Juliette in Robert's hut, I could not. Everything was black and the searing pain in my head felt very, very real. I tried to call out for help, but I couldn't find my mouth. I didn't know where my eyes were. My breath hitched in my throat. What was going on?


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So here it is, the second chapter! Sorry it took so incredibly long to upload it. I had it written a very long while ago, I just never found the motivation to proof-read it. Honestly? I still haven't. I'll do that sometime next week and then update it, I just didn't wanna leave you hanging any longer. I actually had the idea for this story ever since I was a little child. Back then I had no idea about ouat, I didn't even know what fanfiction was! But Captain Swan gave me the inspiration to really get working on it, so that's what I'll be doing now. I'm gonna stop rambling now and let you read!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, well...heaven knows what I'd do with them then ;)**

When I finally awoke my head was spinning. I tried to sit up, but that only made me sick, so I hunched back down to the floor again. Instead of freaking out I decided to logically analyse my surroundings to orient myself. Robert had not been a good father, I never wanted or expected him to be one, but he had been a good teacher and the one thing he taught me was mental strength and intelligent analysis. It was one of the most important things as engineer. So I took three deep breaths and tried to remember last night.

It all came rushing back at me with a force that left my already hurting head thumping from exhaustion. The bad dream. The evil King who had banged me over the head. Had it really all been a dream? I knew for certain I wasn't in Robert's cabin anymore. Funny. After all these years, I still didn't manage to call that hut "home". But that wasn't the point.

I realised where my sickness was coming from. If I closed my eyes and breathed and concentrated I could feel the slight motion underneath my body. A soft swaying from left to right, like a baby in a cradle. Feeling my surroundings carefully with my hand I touched wood. A wooden floor. I was lying on a creaking wooden floor. The rich scent of meat and fruit and bread flavours filled my nose, making my head spin again. Cautiously I tried to sit up again, much slower this time, trying to avoid the inevitable head rush. But I fought against it. I needed to know where I was. A sharp light bit into my eyes, making my squint and recoil from the heat, however I found I could not move my hands to cover my face. They had been tied together. Tasting my sandpaper-dry mouth I realised I had also been gagged. With another bang I could finally make out where I was. It was the tiny little bull's eye from which the sunlight seeped into the room that triggered it. I was on a ship. I was in the storage room of a ship. And I had to get out of here, fast.

It took a bit of a struggle, but I managed to loop my tied hands from behind my back over my feet and into the front. I fought to take off one of my clogs and threw it with all the force I could summon against the round window, but it didn't break. With an angry grunt I crawled stubbornly towards the shoe to pick it up and throw it again. It broke through the glass and fell right into the deep blue sea. I had lost my clog, but I gained what I wanted – a glass shard. Carefully I picked it up with two fingers, as if it was a poisonous snake, and swiftly cut through the rope tying my hands together, then proceeded to take out the knot of the cloth in my mouth. I ran my tongue over my itching dry lips once to get the moisture back and then stood up. I lost balance against the rocking motions of the wild ocean, but I managed to regain strength through sheer determination. I had to find out whose ship I was on. And I had to get off it.

"Well, look who's awake!" said a voice from the top of the stairs. It was the same rough voice from last night's dream; only it wasn't so rough anymore, now that it was not clouded with effort and anger. Dammit, I hadn't seen him coming, I should have been more careful!

"Who are you?" I hissed, taking one cautious step back, away from the shard of light shining in through the broken glass, creating rainbows on the bags and containers of food.

The man at the stairs answered me simply by stepping into the beam of light from which I had just escaped. The breath hitched in my throat as I tried to gasp and found I couldn't make a sound at my shock.

The man had short-cropped black hair and an unruly beard along his jaw. He was wearing leather from head to toe and a fitting brown jacket above the black embroidered vest, hanging down to his ankles. But it wasn't his appearance that shocked me. It was the gleam on his left hand…or rather where his left hand should be. In place of a palm and five fingers shone a pointy silver hook.

"Hook," I hissed. I had heard about this man. The most dreaded, most disgusting, vulgar pirate of them all. Bile rose in my throat at the thought that I was captured on some bloody pirate's ship.

"Clever girl. Got those cuffs removed faster than I'd expected you to. Come here, love, let's get them back on," he smirked.

"Don't touch me! Wretched pirate!" I spat at him and stepped further backwards, only to find I reached a wall behind me.

He let out a dark chuckle and moved towards me, picking up the rope I had just cut on the way. He threw one ugly look at me and threw his arms around me, as if he was trying to embrace me. I tried to throw in a good punch, but he caught my wrists before I could move and tied them back together. The rough ropes burned against my already irritated skin, but I would not show this man my pain.

All of a sudden my stomach lurched. "Juliette," I whispered.

"What did you say, darling?"

"Juliette! My sister! What have you done with my sister?" I shouted.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean," he breathed.

I gave up struggling, accepting his grip was too strong on me. "Where is my sister?" I asked once more, calmly, but dangerously angry.

"We took no other. I suppose she was killed with the rest of them."

That did it. That one sentence. My knees buckled, but I fought to keep myself upright. That hateful monster would not see my pain. Yet it was hard to keep away. This was not simply a sister's mourning. In the years that we have spent with grumpy, drunken Robert, I had to become more than plainly a sister to Juliette. I had to guide her, see her grow up, teach her everything she needed to know. I became a mother. The fact that she was gone – that I would never see her again – twisted my heart with the full-blown strength of a mother's mourning. And it was all Hook's fault. First the pirates take my father and now my daughter as well. Heat boiled up inside of me, I could feel cooking blood rushing to my face and bile rose again as the hate grew like a bushfire inside of me. A tiny spark at first, then spreading, unstoppable flames that burned and seared my entire body from the inside out.

I spat in his face.

"Oh, so you're not so clever after all, dearie. Guess I shall have to gag you again as well," he said as he wiped his face with the end of his sleeve, that wretched smirk curling on his lips again.

"What good will that do?" I snapped back.

"Oh, simply for the fun of it," he groweled, his voice like gravel once more. The voice that I had heard the night before. Or had it been the night before? How long had I been knocked out cold?

"Fun? Whose fun?" I growled back, just as cold and dangerous. It was hard to tell in this moment who was the hunted and who the hunter.

Hook smirked and stepped even closer to him. "Mine" he breathed into my face. The bile rose into my mouth for a third time, together with an unhealthy dose of new burning, raging hate and even a portion of fear. Having him so close to me, having his breath on my skin made my stomach convulse in painful spasms. Not only because this wretched man was almost touching me, but because, well, quite frankly…he stank.

I turned my face away from him and hissed "you _disgust _me!"

"Ha! We'll see about that, love."

"Do NOT call me that, wretched _pirate_!" I spat the word, all the hate dripping from my mouth and onto his dirty skin, dissolving it, burning it…

"Now come. I believe my crew would like to be introduced to you, princess."

"Princess? Why do you call me princess, pirate?" I looked up at him, trying to remain strong and angry, but knowing that some of my confusion was leaking through my eyes.

"Well, you are one after all, aren't you?"

I recoiled from him. "How do you know that? What else do you know about me?" My voice rose to an incredibly high volume. "Tell me, pirate!"

Instead of replying to my shouting he continued his thread of thought at his own volume. "Took us long enough to find you. Believe me, that peasant disguise was incredibly good. Knew we were coming, huh?"

I couldn't reply, that was how shocked and confused I was. This revolting creature knew all about my past. How long had he been stalking me? How long had he been threatening my town, my kingdom? Guilt washed over me, stronger than ever. How could I have abandoned them? And what did he mean `I knew he was coming´? Was I supposed to know he was coming? What did he want with me? Why didn't he take Juliette? Oh my poor, poor, innocent, sweet little Juliette. All these questions were oozing through my skull, but I wouldn't dare to show weakness and curiosity in front of this loathsome monster.

"Now come." His patience was obviously growing smaller. He grabbed me roughly by my arm, his grip too strong to struggle out of. He dragged me up the wooden stairs and through to the deck, where I could hear the excited buzzing of fifteen maybe twenty voices, a mix between baritone and bass. Twenty disgusting, repulsing, vile rattlesnakes and I was the mouse caught in the middle of their circle. As much as I tried to shake out of his firm hand, Hook was too sturdy and he held on to me with an uncomforting ease. If it came fist to fist, I knew I would lose. But if I were to get a hold of a sword or a knife…

My train of thought ended abruptly, as did the waterfall of conversation. We had reached the deck and I was more than relieved to feel the cool, salty sea breeze blow against me, playing with my hair, stroking my dress. I felt like I could finally breathe again. But even this relief was taken away from me quickly as I saw what was before me. I did a quick count. 17. 17 disgusting pirates scrubbing the deck or manning the sails or having a laugh with each other and a glass of beer in their hands. This time I could barely swallow the bile back down again.

"Men, this here is…well, what is your name, dearie?"

I stared at him coldly, keeping my mouth shut.

"Well, I suppose that doesn't matter much anyway. We know who you are, don't we, brothers? The eldest princess. King David's first daughter. Snow White's first daughter."

How did he know me? I shivered, scared to my bone. I tried to pull myself together, disappointed that I had let Hook feel my fear.

"We've found her!" Hook announced boomingly. The reply was a twistedly cheerful "hooray" from the crew. "After years of searching and planning, we've finally found the one we were looking for. The one who will lead us to our much desired and much deserved treasure." Another great cheer. "But – and now let me make this clear – we will treat her with our utmost respect and approach her with our very best manners, or you shall all feel my hook in your chest!" The monster held up his left arm, showing the hook that gleamed there threateningly. The crew stared up at him silently, blinking dumbfounded. If the sight wasn't so repulsive it might have been slightly amusing, seeing how struck these creatures were by this announcement.

Hook turned to face me. I lowered my eyes, but he put his hook on my chin and lifted my face to his, breathing onto my lips once more. It was meant for me, but it was loud enough for the others to hear. "However, I cannot guarantee you that our best manners meet your expectations of best manners. We are, after all, pirates, my dear," he laughed gruesomely and the crew cheered once more. It was all I could do not to throw up onto him right then and there.

"Now get back to work!" Captain Hook shouted, raising his voice above the wind. He turned to me once more. "As soon as you get those ropes off your hands, you may start by scrubbing the deck. You've earned a duly punishment. I don't take it nicely when people try to destroy my ship," he whispered into my ear, referring to the broken bulls-eye, making my hair stand up where his reeking breath singed my jaw.

"You're making me work?" I exclaimed.

"Afraid of getting your hands dirty?" There was that ugly smirk again.

"No!" And it was true. I wasn't afraid of getting my hands dirty, I had done that enough with Robert.

"Ah, afraid of the dirty hands of my men, then." He chuckled again.

"Absolutely not." And that was true also. I wasn't afraid of these scumbags. I hated them. Hated them with every fibre, every cell in my body. I was getting sick at the thought of coming close to another one of those monsters, Captain Hook's grip on me was plenty of vulgarity for today, thank you very much.

"Tell you what, I'll put you under that guard of my Baelfire here. He has proven me to be one of the most loyal, well-mannered and self-controlled men in my crew. Baelfire! Take care of her." And with that the abhorrent beast disappeared. Vanished in the blink of an eye. Like magic.

A man trotted towards the helm, towards where I was now standing alone. His head was bowed to the floor, as if he was in shame. I had seen a lot, but never had I seen such a look on a pirate's face. And I soon realised why.

My heart stopped, my breath wouldn't reach my lungs anymore. I barely had enough strength to stutter out one last word… "Neal?"


End file.
